Gettin' here

I know it is well past time I posted the events that led to our missing our flight to Utah, but for the sake of record keeping, here goes:

The morning we were supposed to fly to Utah, my aunt and I had the incredibly daunting task of cleaning the house in preparation for the big move. My cousin was there to help with the kids (and Julie was around the corner when we needed a little extra help) and we started the process around 9:00 am. At 3:00 pm we had finished and, exhausted, left for the airport. We had 8 bags and two car seats to check, a few carry-on bags and pillows, and three small children in tow. We arrived about an hour before our flight was scheduled to leave, not super early, but not necessarily late either. We parked in short term parking (my FIL was flying into Jax to close on the house and would be driving our van to meet Jeff a few hours later), and hauled our load into the airport.

That's when things started going wrong. One of the bags had a broken wheel and was very tricky to roll. The computer at check-in wasn't working right and refused to print the correct labels for our luggage (we were there a good thirty minutes and we didn't even wait in line). The line for security was much longer than it looked. The milk we had bought to go with the Cinnabon had to be put into small, 3 oz containers, so it could pass. And the three kids were slowing us down, too. My aunt started realizing that we weren't going to make it and tried to cut in line, so at the very least she could run down to the gate to let them know we were on our way. She did manage to get a tiny bit ahead of us, although she had my boarding pass instead of hers and had to come back to switch with me.

I started pouring the mouthfuls of milk in each small container into my kids mouths, knowing that any small amount of liquid was going to slow us down, and got the boarding passes wet. We got stopped at security and Damon's bag was searched, revealing three illegal items (play-doh in containers larger than 3 oz). I apologized, not realizing that play-doh was either a liquid or a gel and we all got our shoes back on. At this point, I saw my aunt running back toward us, obviously stressed. She said, "You have got to run!"

I was carrying my purse, Kyla and one large car seat. Damon was dragging his (now play-doh free) bag, Heidi (my cousin) was carrying our mound of pillows, and Allie was slowing us all down by trying to walk by herself. So, our entire party started running. And Allie's shoe fell off, at which point she refused to run without it on. I looked back to see Heidi trying to pick her up, the pillows falling from her arms. My own arms burning, I turned around and ran back to help, taking the pillows myself. We ran for what seemed like ages, finally making it to our gate. And although the plane was there, the door was closed. And they wouldn't open it for us.

Long story short, we were flying stand-by and legally they couldn't wait for us. So, after some heated words passed and tears were shed (by my aunt and Damon, respectively), we rescheduled our flight for the next day. We met up with my FIL, who had arrived, and rode back to Jacksonville, just as we should've been heading to Utah.

We left the next morning, where we turned a 6-hour layover in New York into an afternoon on the subway, and a couple hours walking around Times Square and the Empire State Building. It actually was very enjoyable. And by our night flight to Utah, we were all tired enough to sleep for a good portion of it. Phew. What a trip.

We are glad to be here, and even happier to be spending time in St. George. After some random bad weather nearly chased me back to Florida, it is now incredibly nice in Utah. And my kids are loving the trampoline, the park in the backyard and the fun that just never stops. Allie found this dress at her cousin's house one day (the ones we live next door to in Springville) and she has probably worn it at least three times a week since. I've gotten used to seeing her in it, actually, and am a little surprised at the reaction she gets from other people.

Kyla is practicing her walking, but only when she wants to. She's been a little sad lately, and there have been numerous "diarrhea incidents." For your sake, I won't go into them here, although Heather has one pic on her camera that I may have to post.

I realize that I don't have any pics of Damon or of his recent haircut ("my grandma has cancer" is what he'll tell you when someone notices it), but here is one he took of us girls. No one mourns the wicked! I love this hand me down shirt!